File this one under weird but true facts: Just keeping your hands cool while exercising can reduce the discomfort of overheating and sweating so you work out longer.
That finding comes from a study published in the journal Circulation by Stacy T. Sims, PhD, a research scientist and exercise physiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine. She recruited a group of 24 obese, yet healthy, women ages 30 to 45 to test the idea that cooling their hands might help them exercise longer—a practice already used by some professional athletes. Dr. Sims enlisted obese women since they tend to give up exercise easily due to sweating, fatigue, exhaustion and overheating. Fat acts as an insulator, which is why overweight people tend to overheat when they exert themselves.
Sims divided the women into two groups: One held a device that ran cool water (60.8 degrees F) through it, while the second group's device had water at body temperature (98.6 F) running through it. The women then attended three exercise sessions a week for 12 weeks. The workouts included a mix of strength training and aerobic exercise.
At the end of three months the results were impressive. The women with cooled hands burned two-inches of belly fat off their waists, lowered their blood pressure from 139/84 to 124/70 and shaved an average of five minutes off their time for a treadmill test. The women with body-temperature water showed no significant differences in any of the measures—likely, Sims notes, because many of them dropped out early and skipped a lot of sessions.
No matter your weight, keeping your hands cool is one way to help you keep exercising when you'd rather cut your workout short. How to do it? Freeze a bottle of water and hold it in your bare palm while you work out, Sims says. As it melts, take a nice hydrating drink of water, which also helps your body cool down.
